Can someone help me answer this "birds and bees" question for my 5.5 yr old?

I'm not sure how to answer this for her.

She asked me, "How did Daddy fertilize your egg?"

Ok, so some background - I'm pg. And my parents have lots of farm animals, including chickens. She asked some questions about chickens eggs - how come they don't turn into babies? I told her b/c there is no daddy chicken to fertilize the eggs, so the eggs won't turn into babies b/c it takes the egg from the mommy and then the daddy has to fertilize it and THEN it will grow into a baby. Hence, no rooster (daddy chicken), no babies.

Later on she asked some other questions about if mommies lay eggs like chickens. I said no, mommies have eggs INSIDE their tummies.

And now, she wants to know HOW Daddy fertilized my egg. I tried to answer in a way that kind of avoids the topic of sex.... I said "Daddy has a special thing called a sperm and he gives the sperm to Mommy to fertilize her egg." She said, "How?"

Um, someone help me please. Isn't she too young to know all the ins and outs of sex?

Re: Can someone help me answer this "birds and bees" question for my 5.5 yr old?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mom2jandb

Yeah, my kids aren't that old yet, but I think I would just be honest.

no need to hide!

I WANT to be honest. I was hoping there was another way to answer the question without going into sex. I was hoping someone could give me other suggestions of ways to answer it without going that far into it.

I was just kind of hoping this conversation would take place later... like in 3 yrs or something. She's just too smart to let me off the hook that easy! Right?! LOL

Re: Can someone help me answer this "birds and bees" question for my 5.5 yr old?

Well, I don't know thats tough. I just told my DD (8) about the whole sex thing. At 5.5 she may not "get it" but I guess I would feel uncomforable about giving her too much info on it. Maybe tell her "Daddy gives Mommy a special present when we want to have another baby. Mommy unwraps it and then the baby grows." ???? Maybe to vague..I'm sorry. I seem to be no help really. I hope you find a way.

Re: Can someone help me answer this "birds and bees" question for my 5.5 yr old?

I would just start talking, with simple (and correct!) terms, and then stop when she's obviously done listening - likely she'd say "okay", or zone out, start talking about something else, or even just up and walk away to play. She'll only "take in" as much as she can handle, if you don't make a big deal of it, kwim?